Development Watch – old Keele Street Canadian Tire Store

The junction devoid of condo product – a sure hit for all – thoughts on junction condo development

Deconstruction of the old Keele Street Canadian Tire Store is slowly moving along, rather slowly actually, with many days of seemingly nothing happening, hopefully they will keep to their build schedule as this affordable condo project will greatly change the character – for the better of the Keele St. and Dundas St. corner for the better.

In terms of anticipated success though, it surely is a win situation, even for a for-profit builder to have taken on. The current project is being developed by a not-for-profit developer (Options for Homes). The location of the former Canadian Tire Store and further back in time an A&P grocery store is selectivity brilliant, not only for its junction address, but for the views afforded by it’s location south to High Park and East to the core of the city. Also the site is a sloped, a wonderful design feature in terms of walking to, out and around the building. Hopefully they make great use of this feature with their landscaping. Another reason the project is welcomed to the neighborhood is because it replaces an empty building of no real importance to the history of the community, a building which sat vacant for years. The building’s units in terms of size are favorable with other condo projects of the same size and are reasonably affordable at a time when gigantic and expensive condos are in unprecedented demand in many parts of the west of Toronto.

So why not build even more aggressively, in Toronto’s hot condo market, where there are teenage and budding condo developers peeking around most corners, huddled in corner Starbucks uttering phrases such as – we could do that a lot better, just look at that, they should have…, maybe the not for profit should try a different model, one of self contracting the construction of the building, A well executed and thought out process to do a self managed construction process would lower the prices of the condos in their development. Self contracting worked for O&Y and Tridel developments at their beginnings. Using a builder adds cost, of course the builder for The Village by High Park – Deltera is a good builder – a for profit builder, who then subcontracts out most of the work to other contractors. Part of the Tridel Group of Companies, Deltera is a prime residential builder with cutting edge building technology and a history of building innovations which any developer – especially a not for profit should fully mine, to archive the best possible building for their value conscious customers. Rather than simply hire Deltera for it’s concrete and plumbing etc management skills hire them to push the limits – carefully – for affordable housing, wouldn’t Deltera – deep down be happier along with the future residents.